Chapter Summaries

Duanmu Huai examined a stillborn infant in Waterdeep and confirmed that it showed signs of Chaos corruption, prompting him to investigate Locke Town. The town head, Glenzer Brown, allowed the Inquisition into the sealed town, where its anxious militia awaited them.

• Duanmu Huai uncovered the infant’s coffin and found beastlike features, sharp teeth, and split hooves on its corpse.
• Ann said scholars disagreed about when an infant’s soul entered its body, while Tyr did not answer the priest’s prayers.
• Duanmu Huai advised the priest to burn the corrupted corpse and left Waterdeep with his companions for Locke Town.
• At Locke Town’s gate, Duanmu Huai identified himself as Grand Inquisitor and insisted that investigating Chaos corruption was the Inquisition’s duty.
• Glenzer Brown ordered the gates opened and welcomed Duanmu Huai and his companions into the sealed town.

Duanmu Huai imposed an Inquisition lockdown on Locke Town and learned that miscarriages had been followed by the brutal murders of the affected women and their families. After killing a farmer who preached the arrival of a new god, Duanmu Huai led the group to the cemetery to investigate.

• Duanmu Huai ordered Okegis and Jia Wei to seal every entrance and exit, then forced the mayor to explain Locke Town's crisis.
• The mayor said women who had miscarried and their families had been found disemboweled, and Duanmu Huai sent Mary and Gureiya to question the town's last pregnant woman.
• Duanmu Huai found Huo Er preaching about a new god and killed him, then ordered the mayor to display his corpse as a warning against heresy.
• Duanmu Huai told Ann that the Inquisition would accept killing innocents rather than risk letting a Chaos follower escape.
• Duanmu Huai and the others reached the cemetery, where rows of newly dug graves awaited their investigation.

Duanmu Huai found that something had burst out of the female victims’ bellies and learned that a boy had seen a long-limbed monster enter the town’s sealed mine. After Mary reported seeing a strange light inside a pregnant woman, Duanmu Huai used a divine spell to link their senses and try to share her Gold Eye.

• Duanmu Huai examined the exhumed victims and concluded that something had burst out of the female victims’ bellies before killing them.
• A soldier recalled that Helen’s boy had claimed to see a monster, and the boy said it had fled into the sealed mine after avoiding sunlight.
• Duanmu Huai sent guards with the boy to check the mine and warned Ann to dress more conservatively after noticing the boy staring at her.
• Mary told Duanmu Huai that she had seen an unusual light inside a pregnant woman, but could not describe it clearly.
• Duanmu Huai cast a divine spell from the Pink Book to link himself with Mary and attempt to share her Gold Eye, leaving Mary overwhelmed as the ritual concluded.

Duanmu Huai traced Locke Town’s stillbirths and monsters to radioactive ore hidden in a mine, where he found the corpse of an otherworldly visitor marked as a follower of Corruption's Filth. He left the discovery with a new enemy’s trail to investigate.

• Duanmu Huai tested the Gold Eye and followed its vision from the river to a glowing stone in a mountain cave.
• A guard told Duanmu Huai that monsters had attacked the men who entered the reopened mine, so Duanmu Huai went in alone and ordered the entrances sealed.
• Duanmu Huai detected dangerous radiation in the mine and concluded that someone had placed radioactive ore there, causing the town’s distorted stillbirths.
• Duanmu Huai fought off the spear-limbed monsters and a bizarre hybrid beast as he followed the radiation toward an underground lake.
• Duanmu Huai found the glowing ore beside the corpse of a spacesuited stranger and recognized the blasphemous markings as those of a follower of Corruption's Filth.

Duanmu Huai discovered Corruption's Filth had reached another world and suspected it was trying to weaken Faerûn's Crystal Wall so a Chaos Fleet could invade. In the Lost Land, adventurers found a green-armored monster corrupting Kobolds and attacking them, leaving the Elf Ranger and Halfling to flee while the Holy Knight and a warrior tried to hold it back.

• Duanmu Huai used the Black Flame to destroy the Mutated Creatures in a mine, then ordered Echote to send a Reconnaissance Fleet and hurry the fleet repairs.
• Duanmu Huai suspected Corruption's Filth was probing Faerûn and might be weakening its Crystal Wall for a larger invasion.
• The Halfling led the adventurers to ruins where a green-armored warrior transformed Kobolds into bloated, maggot-ridden monsters.
• The green-armored warrior shot the mage and pursued the fleeing adventurers, killing a barbarian and damaging another warrior's Adamantine shield.
• The Holy Knight sent the Elf Ranger and Halfling to report to the Queen while he and a warrior stayed behind to distract the monster.
• The Holy Knight's sacred light briefly stopped the green giant, but its flesh healed the warrior's axe wound and its counterattack sent the Holy Knight crashing through trees.

A fleeing halfling warned Duanmu Huai and his companions about a green-armored monster in the Lost Land, leading Duanmu Huai to suspect Typhus. He found and killed the Lord of the Fly Nest, though the battle left him checking the system for confirmation of the kill.

• A halfling escaped the High Forest after a green Iron Devil transformed a kobold tribe and attacked her adventuring party.
• The halfling ran into Duanmu Huai and his companions, mistook his black armor for the green demon’s, and told them what had happened.
• Duanmu Huai ordered the halfling to lead them to the ruins and suspected the monster was Typhus, the Lord of the Fly Nest.
• Duanmu Huai ambushed the Lord of the Fly Nest in an abandoned temple and fought through his psychic attacks and mutated servants, with Ann and the others helping.
• Duanmu Huai crushed the Lord of the Fly Nest with his Thunder Warhammer and destroyed his body and final curse with Black Flame.
• Duanmu Huai confirmed the Lord of the Fly Nest’s death when the system awarded him 350,000 Experience Points.

After defeating the Lord of the Fly Nest, Duanmu Huai ordered the Lost Land and its surrounding forest destroyed to ensure no corruption remained. The blast alarmed nearby cities, and Khelben agreed to join an investigation while hiding his role in sending Duanmu Huai there.

• Duanmu Huai reflected that Rabbit Rabbit had helped him find the Lord of the Fly Nest before its plague could spread, and that his power had only overcome the enemy after he burned vast stores of soul power.
• Duanmu Huai told Ann he would tear down and rebuild the Lost Land, then triggered an enormous explosion that reduced it and the surrounding forest to scorched earth.
• A Halfling survivor witnessed the blast and resolved to report what had happened, while people across the High Forest, Silverymoon, and Waterdeep panicked over the flash and earthquake.
• Khelben suspected Duanmu Huai had caused the explosion, while Waterdeep's Masked Lord and Alustriel pressed him to investigate the disaster.
• Alustriel told Khelben that a Halfling had blamed a powerful black Iron Devil, and Khelben agreed to join the investigation while concealing that he had sent Duanmu Huai to the Lost Land.

Emilia, Kasim, Luo Xia, and Luo Qixi joined an expedition to investigate an explosion in the Lost Land, which they suspected was connected to Duanmu Huai. The expedition encountered the Inquisition at a fortified gate, where a Steel Warrior killed the Helm priest and then agreed to take them to the Grand Inquisitor.

• A warrior gathered prominent adventurers in Silverymoon to investigate the explosion in the Lost Land, and Emilia, Kasim, Luo Xia, and Luo Qixi joined the expedition.
• On the journey, Kasim and Luo Xia suspected that Duanmu Huai had caused the explosion, while Emilia worried about a clash between him and the Helm priest.
• The expedition reached a black steel gate bearing the Inquisition's emblem, and the Helm priest accused those behind it of serving Cyric.
• Steel Warriors opened the gate, and one of them killed the Helm priest when he shouted accusations at them.
• Emilia identified the group as an investigation team organized by Lady Alustriel and asked to speak with Duanmu Huai.
• The Steel Warrior said the Grand Inquisitor was waiting and led the expedition through the gate.

Emilia and her companions led representatives from Waterdeep, the High Forest, and Silverymoon through the desolate Lost Land to meet Duanmu Huai at the Inquisition’s vast metal fortress. Duanmu Huai admitted that he had caused the explosion and said he had purified the area, leaving the visitors stunned.

• The visitors found the Lost Land barren and learned from Emilia and her companions about the Inquisition’s extreme mission and its role in saving Neverwinter City.
• The group reached the enormous metal churches, whose scale and weapons convinced Silverymoon’s representative that the Inquisition possessed immense power.
• At the fortress, the visitors heard Duanmu Huai and Ann arguing over a card game instead of finding the terrifying ruler they had expected.
• Duanmu Huai greeted Emilia, Luo Qixi, Kasim, and Luo Xia, then asked why the other visitors had come.
• Emilia explained that the explosion had affected nearby regions, and Duanmu Huai admitted he had caused it to purify the Lost Land.

Duanmu Huai defended the Inquisition’s destruction of the Lost Land, warned the delegates about the awakening Ancient Evil Gods, and discussed opening the Inquisition’s territory with Silverymoon’s representative. After learning that contamination was spreading through the High Forest and Treants had blocked his forces, he ordered the Night Watch to destroy its source.

• Duanmu Huai told the delegates he had destroyed the Lost Land to stop a cultist’s plague, and threatened to destroy the High Forest if its contamination threatened humanity.
• Duanmu Huai revealed that he had killed Rose and warned the delegates that Ancient Evil Gods were awakening, urging them to pass his warning about the Crystal Wall to their gods.
• Duanmu Huai said the Inquisition would keep the Lost Land as a restricted military fortress, while Silverymoon’s representative argued that opening it could draw attacks away from other cities.
• Duanmu Huai agreed to consider the representative’s suggestion, then heard Okegis report that contamination was spreading in the High Forest and that Treants had blocked the advancing forces.
• Duanmu Huai ordered the Night Watch to prepare to destroy the source of the contamination, dismissing the Elf Ranger’s warning that this would make the Inquisition an enemy of the High Forest.

Duanmu Huai rushed to the High Forest with the Inquisition and launched a brutal campaign to contain the spreading infection. After his forces burned infected Treants and much of the forest, Tuke summoned the Treant race to fight back, leaving Duanmu Huai expecting to revise his plan.

• Duanmu Huai took an observer delegation and more than a hundred Iron Warriors aboard transport aircraft bound for the High Forest.
• Jia Wei tried to stop Tuke and his infected companion from reaching Unicorn Stream, warning that they could spread the infection.
• Duanmu Huai ordered the Iron Warriors to bomb the Treants and burn an isolation belt through nearly a quarter of the High Forest.
• The Night Watch swept the burning forest with Promethium Flamethrowers, and Duanmu Huai crushed the infected Treant when Tuke tried to save it.
• Tuke summoned the Treant race to attack Duanmu Huai, who said he had expected to revise the plan.

Duanmu Huai and the Inquisition purged the plague from the High Forest with fire, killing the Treants who attacked them. The operation ended with the forest reduced to ash, and Duanmu Huai left intending to make the Inquisition’s power clear to the locals.

• Rangers, druids, and Elves arrived at the burning forest, but the Night Watch barred them from entering and warned that anyone obstructing the purge would be executed.
• The Treants attacked the Night Watch, and the Iron Warriors shot and burned them while the other groups withdrew to prepare defenses against the spreading fire.
• Duanmu Huai smashed a Treant apart with his warhammer and ordered the Inquisition to kill every attacker.
• The last trace of Typhus's plague aura vanished as the Inquisition finished the purge and left the forest burned to ash.
• Duanmu Huai declared the operation complete and departed, calling it only the beginning.

Duanmu Huai left Ann and Gureiya to manage the Inquisition’s territory while he searched the Lost Land for a gateway to the Soul World. He found the hidden Teleportation Gate, but half of it was buried underground, so he planned to crawl inside.

• Ann warned Duanmu Huai that governing a territory required capable administrators, and he said the Lost Land could provide them.
• Duanmu Huai explained that the Lost Land held a fragment of the Soul World and left to search for its entrance, entrusting territory management to Ann and Gureiya.
• Ann recruited Mary to help manage the territory, and Mary reluctantly agreed.
• After searching for two days, Duanmu Huai used Soul Resonance to reveal a Teleportation Gate near a pile of boulders.
• Duanmu Huai discovered that half the Teleportation Gate was underground and said he would crawl inside.

After falling through a damaged Teleportation Gate into Princess Aurelia’s bathroom, Duanmu Huai agreed to help defend the Luminas Kingdom against an advancing monster army. As the battle began, he sensed that Aurelia was concealing something about the danger facing her fortress.

• Duanmu Huai, Okegis, and Jia Wei fell through a collapsing floor into Aurelia’s bathroom, where the maid Erica attacked him before Aurelia stopped her.
• Aurelia introduced herself as princess of the Luminas Kingdom and asked Duanmu Huai to fight the Devils’ forces in exchange for overlooking his accidental intrusion.
• Aurelia told Erica that Luminas needed every available warrior, while privately remaining strangely detached about the fortress’s possible destruction.
• Duanmu Huai joined Aurelia and Erica on the battlements as an army of Orks, Giants, and wolves approached through the blizzard.
• Aurelia called the enemy’s third assault a threat to all Luminas, but Duanmu Huai noticed her eyes seemed numb and suspected she was hiding a secret.

Duanmu Huai and Luminas’s defenders fought off the monster army while he suspected Aurelia was more concerned with appearing to defend the fortress than saving it. A dragon attacked, and Aurelia leaped toward it as the soldiers cheered, though Duanmu Huai noticed her eyes remained indifferent.

• Duanmu Huai sent Jia Wei behind the monster army to look for its commander and allowed her to kill it if she found it.
• Aurelia helped the Luminas knights reclaim the western wall from Ice Wolves and Goblins while Duanmu Huai and Okegis held the gate.
• Duanmu Huai suspected Aurelia was staging her efforts and might not care whether the fortress fell, but he chose not to test his suspicion by letting the monsters break through.
• A huge dragon descended on the fortress, froze knights with its icy breath, and attacked the defenders.
• Aurelia leaped from the wall and charged the dragon as the Luminas soldiers cheered, while Duanmu Huai saw indifference in her eyes.

Duanmu Huai and Okegis helped Aurelia’s forces defeat a swarm of white dragons attacking the fortress. Afterward, Aurelia explained that Revion’s promised reinforcements had not arrived and asked Duanmu Huai to help Luminas take the initiative and attack.

• Aurelia killed a white dragon, but hundreds more emerged from the clouds and charged the fortress.
• Duanmu Huai used shoulder-mounted Missile Pods to destroy most of the incoming dragons, then charged the enormous white dragon with his Jetpack and warhammer.
• Okegis wounded the enormous dragon’s wings, and Duanmu Huai killed it with a lightning- and flame-wreathed strike to its skull, ending the battle.
• Jia Wei told Duanmu Huai that she had searched the monster army’s rear but found no commander.
• Aurelia told Duanmu Huai that Revion’s fleet had failed to arrive and asked him to help Luminas launch an attack.

Aurelia asked Duanmu Huai to draw Luminas Kingdom’s Holy Sword so they could open the seal on the Demon King, and he traveled with her to Luminas Mountain. He finally lifted the sword, but only by tearing up the stone around it, leaving everyone unsure whether he had actually drawn it.

• Aurelia explained that the Holy Sword was needed to open the Demon King’s seal and asked Duanmu Huai to retrieve it from Luminas Mountain.
• Duanmu Huai, Aurelia, Jia Wei, and Okegis flew west aboard an airship while he wondered about the kingdom’s condition and Aurelia’s intentions.
• The group reached the Holy Sword in a mountain plaza, where the black-haired maid explained that its holy power kept monsters away.
• Duanmu Huai tried repeatedly to pull the Holy Sword free, but it would not budge and the others began to doubt he could draw it.
• Duanmu Huai tore up the ground around the sword and raised it with a huge mass of stone still attached, then asked Aurelia whether it counted.

Duanmu Huai used the Holy Sword, which looked like a hexagonal altar stone, to break the ice sealing the Demon King and quickly destroy the powerful Demon guarding it. He and the others discovered that the coffin behind the guard was empty, leaving them to wonder when and how the real Demon King had escaped.

• Duanmu Huai and the others traveled to the iceberg where Aurelia said her ancestors had sealed the Demon King.
• Duanmu Huai struck the iceberg with the Holy Sword, breaking the ice and freeing a gigantic Demon.
• Duanmu Huai crushed the Demon’s knee and head, then shoved the Holy Sword into its mouth and destroyed it.
• Duanmu Huai found a coffin behind the Demon and opened it to reveal that it was empty.
• Aurelia and the black-haired maid realized the Demon King was missing, and Duanmu Huai concluded that it had escaped long ago.

Duanmu Huai discovered through the coffin that Luminas’s legendary hero had betrayed his companions, bargained with the Demon King, and secretly preserved the truth behind the kingdom’s founding story. The Demon King was gone, and Duanmu Huai kept the revelation from Aurelia, who was proud to descend from the hero.

• Duanmu Huai touched the coffin and witnessed the past, when a group of adventurers sealed the defeated Demon King in it.
• As the sealing ritual began, the warrior betrayed and killed the barbarian, elf, priest, and mage.
• The warrior bargained with the Demon King for power, agreeing that his descendants would become the Demon King’s slaves in five hundred years.
• The Demon King escaped with the companions’ souls, left behind a demon, and the warrior sealed it and the coffin in ice before leaving.
• Duanmu Huai asked Aurelia about Luminas’s hero legend, and Aurelia said she was descended from the hero and had sworn to protect the kingdom.
• Duanmu Huai decided not to reveal what he had seen to Aurelia and recognized that the hidden history made matters more troublesome.

After the monster army's defeat, Duanmu Huai returned to Luminas with Aurelia, where the frail King postponed his reward ceremony. Duanmu Huai then visited a familiar shop in search of talented recruits and met its shopkeeper, Stifal.

• Aurelia concealed the truth about the Demon King and announced that the Northern Fortress's defense had succeeded after scouts found the Ice Field monsters gone.
• Duanmu Huai accompanied Aurelia to Luminas, where the city celebrated their return.
• The ailing King ended his audience before Aurelia could report something important, and a black-cloaked man said the military department would handle Duanmu Huai's reward.
• Aurelia told Duanmu Huai that her father had fallen ill two years earlier and promised Erica would contact him later.
• Okegis and Jia Wei met Duanmu Huai outside the palace, and he led them to a shop he remembered from the game.
• Duanmu Huai entered the House of Fantasy, where its shopkeeper, Stifal, greeted him.